Thought it would be good to have one of these again this season to show where we stand. Will update this first post as things change. PG 1. Avery Bradley 4.8 mil Room Exception 2 yrs 2. Alex Caruso 2.8 mil cap space 2 yrs 3. Rajon Rondo 2.6 mil vet minimum 2 yrs 4. Quinn Cook 3.0 cap space 2 yrs SG 5. Danny Green 15 mil cap space 2 yrs 6. Kentavious Cadwell-Pope 8.3 mil cap space 2 yrs 7. Troy Daniels 2 mil min contract 1 yr *Zach Norvell (2-way) SF 8. Lebron James 37.4mil cap space 3 yrs player option on 3rd 9. Jared Dudley 2.5 mil vet minimum 1 yr 10. Talen Horton-Tucker .9 mil rookie contract/cap space 2 yrs * Jordan Caroline Exhibit 10 Contract (non-guaranteed, no cap hit) PF 11. Anthony Davis 27.1 mil cap space 1 yr 12. Kyle Kuzma 2 mil rookie contract/cap space 2 yrs (UFA) *Devontae Cacok (exhibit contract) - 4/5 tweener *Kostas Antetokounmpo 2-way contract C 13. DeMarcus Cousins 3.5mil cap space 1 yr 14. JaVale McGee 4 mil cap space 2 yrs *Aric Holman (exhibit contract) 15. = ? Stretched money: 5mil We're over the cap but below the tax apron. As a result only min contracts available *Not a standard contract or using a roster spot
Personally I think we are way light on bigs (considering 3 of them all need load management to some degree). Just a fact. Kind of hard to load manage Cousins and AD with only McGee to back them up. 4 bigs signed total (and that's counting Kuz who is more like a big SF). And we are heavy on PGs. I really would rather not have brought back Rondo and used that slot for a workhorse big. We still have a 15th slot. This part of the roster (shortage of bigs, overage of PGs) doesn't seem well-planned to me. Bradley, Caruso and Cook could run the PG by committee. Lebron handles the ball so much anyways, we just need the PGs that can shoot and play D I would just roll with those 3. I wish Zubac had had 1 more year left on his rook deal so we could have kept him.
A couple things to clarify...we used up our entire room exception on AvBrad, so in terms of exceptions, all we have left are vet mins. Caruso's deal leaked into our cap space. We don't have access to any MLEs (tax payer: about 6m; non-tax payer: about 10m) or the biannual exception (is only available to use if used in conjunction with the non-tax payer MLE only) till next summer. Other than that, I do agree with your post that frontline depth is a concern.
Agreed on bigs, it’s my only complaint about our roster. Not wise to rely entirely on a guy in AD who has a history of ticky tack injuries, a guy in McGee who can’t okay more than 20 mins per game or so, and a guy in Cousins who is coming off off big injuries still. Kuz is also not really a big, he can play small ball 4, but he’s not going to grab a bunch of boards and defend the paint. We’re also thin at SF, unless Kuz plays some there or maybe Green can, we only have LeBron and Dudley at the 3. We’re stacked at guard, but yes I still don’t understand why we let a reliable dirty work big like Jonathan Williams go.
We can always find a Jonathan Williams type bench big when we need one. There are dozens of those guys.
Eh..most of them are pretty crap to be honest. Williams was solid, he didn’t make a ton of mistakes, he only cared about the dirty work, he showed potential, that is not as easy to find IMO. I’d rather have one less guard, Rondo or Daniels, and one more big, we cannot ask too much of the bigs we have this season or we will regret it come playoff time.
I didn't want Rondo back, but AD probably did, so there's that. Daniels will earn his keep by hitting over 40% of his 3s. Don't forget, we also have Cacok when we need him: Cacok appeared in 129 games (97 starts) for UNC Wilmington, averaging 12.3 points (.639 FG%) and 9.8 rebounds in 23.8 minutes per game. Cacok was a two-time All-CAA First Team honoree and three-time CAA All-Defensive Team selection for UNCW, and as a sophomore in 2016-17, he shot an NCAA single-season record 80.0 percent (184-230) from the field.
spotrac shows Caruso was also signed using the room, yeah it didn't makes sense that they show both him and Bradley signed with the room. I thought they must have meant the full MLE speaking of, why don't we have the full 9.2 mil MLE since we are below the tax apron and above the cap which are the qualifications for it? Did we dip below the cap to use cap space somehow in the AD trade (which would null the full MLE)?
I figured AD wanted Rondo and I understand but he doesn't need Rondo with LBJ in there. LBJ can get him the ball a lot more effectively. Whatever big we get they need to be able to handle minutes and starts because all our bigs minus McGee want to play PF so we need someone to take some real play time that can start at times and contribute. Williams at least fits the active energetic part.
I didn’t forget Cacok, but he’s 6’7. He looked fine, if not especially impressive against summer league competition, but in the actual NBA he does not have the size. Williams is 6’9 or 6’10, a true big. I’m not down on Daniels either, but honestly with our depth I don’t even see him playing, Bradley likely starts, Cook, Caruso, and Rondo are behind him, and Green and KCP have the SG spot locked up, with Cook maybe playing some there as well.
Cause we operated as a team with cap space. Had we not renounced our players' rights (Kcp, Rondo, Mcgee), then we wouldn't have cap space to sign Green. Once we signed Green to more than the non-tax payer MLE, we became a team operating with cap space instead of a team operating over the cap. Theoretically, we could have held Kcp's (15.6m cap hold), Rondo's (10.8m cap hold), McGee' (3m cap hold) and Caruso's (1.6m caphold) player rights while not renouncing the non-tax payer MLE (9.3m) and the biannual exception (3.6m) and we would have been a team operating as over the cap. You then divide the 9.3m ntmle between Boog and AvBrad, while having the biannual for Cook or you give the entire MLE to Green (up to 4yrs at a good marketable price point) and give the biannual to Boogie or Av. But then Cook and/or Boog would have to agree to vet mins...and Dudz and Daniels are still at the vet min in any scenario. You take the over the cap route tho and we don't have the biannual next summer if we used it this summer (you can't use it in consecutive years). I would have only opened up cap space for a max player or to absorb deals with assets attached. Anyways...alot of shoulda woulda coulda this summer, but I mantain the Lakers gotta at least add to the FO. If you don't want Rob out and want to make him the lead, then that's fine...but bring him a seasoned running mate. That much is obvious to me now.
I don't understand the Johnathan Williams release either, I thought he was good enough to efficiently handle a few back up minutes every game. I guess he was a casualty of the Rondo signing.
We still have 1 more 2-way contract right? Perhaps they eventually use that on a big&play things by ear w/the big men we have. All I know is if Draymond and Harrell are playing small ball 5, then you figure AD wouldnt/shouldn't have an issue playing small ball 5...right?
I'm pretty happy with our Roster.. I'm reserving judgement until after the Feb. trade Deadline though. Like others have stated, we're overloaded on Guards & need more Frontcourt depth.
I'd like us to give 2 2ways to Norvell and Holman, Holman looks to be a decent stretch 4 and Norvell got game, his 3pt shooting is on par with Svi IMO...maybe sign Cacock to the Gleague team
Just bouncing back to top for everyone's quick reference though I think most of us have this year's complete roster memorized a lot better than any in the previous 9 years or so. Up to date, #15 slot still available presumably in the hopes of an Iguodala waiver from Memphis. The Griz have nothing to play for with a few bum contracts, no stars and Iggy doesn't fit their tank and rebuild plans. They'll probably have 75 mil in cap space next summer they could max out say Draymond Green with. The Lakers are no threat to them as they are no threat to anyone.
the 15th slot could go to a big at any moment (like chandler last year). if iggy comes available, you just cut that guy.
Yeah what's whack is I read the FO doesn't think we are light on bigs which is a joke. No idea where that thought is coming from. I mean, assuming 100% perfect health, yeah, we'll be ok but honestly even then we don't even have a garbage time big on the actual roster.
Added contract lengths mostly 2 years but a few exceptions, AD, Boogie, Dudley and Troy Daniels are all 1 yr no one signed beyond 2 years except LBJ who has 3 but an out on year #3
